Zac Brown Band's John Driskell Hopkins' New Private Studio

Zac Brown Band's John Driskell Hopkins is just his bandmates: busy with lots of extracurricular activities. And he's built a private studio in Georgia to accommodate some of them.

John now owns the 2,500 Atlanta-based Brighter Shade Studios, a professional-grade digital recording space. "I've always had somewhere to work, but this space, now that we've gotten finished with it, is a place that I plan to be in for a long, long time," he tells the Atlanta Business Chronicle. "After you work in about five or six studios, you start to figure out what's important, what you need, what you don't need, and where you're going to spend your money."

The studio is going to come in handy, of course. When John isn't performing or recording with ZBB, he's making music with his own John Driskell Hopkins Band, or helping out artists like jazz legend Joe Gransden and other Atlanta-based acts.

Zac Brown Band founding member John Driskell Hopkins is at a good spot in his life. When he's not on the road with the three-time Grammy Award-winning band, Hopkins is either spending time with his family and friends, working on projects for his own John Driskell Hopkins Band, or working on projects as a producer for the likes of living-jazz legend Joe Gransden, The Joe Gransden Big Band, Katie Deal and rising Atlanta-based singer-songwriter Alex Guthrie.

There are plenty of other recording spaces in and around Atlanta, but when it came down to it, John wanted something all his own. "The real reason I want to have a place to work in that is professional and comfortable is so I can create what I do — my songs, my Christmas albums, my writing," he tells the publication. "And, to a large extent, some of the stuff for Zac Brown Band can be done here if we don't have time to go to Nashville."

John is no newcomer to the ways of recording. It's a craft he's been interested in since college. Prior to his time with ZBB, he even spent time as a recording engineer and producer. Read more from the Atlanta Business Chroniclehere.

Teddy McDonald is a fun-lovin' country music fan man living in Nashville, Tennessee.